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12 512e and 4Kn Disk Formats
Windows Server 2008 with MS KB
2553708
2. Advanced Format, AF, 4K
Native
4096 bytes
4096 bytes
Windows Server 2012 (4K data
disks are supported and as boot
disks in UEFI mode)
Note that Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 do not support 512e or 4Kn media. While
the system may boot up and operate minimally, there may be functionality issues, data loss, or sub-
optimal performance. Dell does not recommend using 512e media with Windows Server 2003.
There are a number of software utilities (such as Diskpart and Paragon) that are widely used by system
builders, OEMs, value-added resellers, and IT managers for aligning partitions when the operating system
doesn't offer or support partition alignment out of the box. Systems today typically consist of multiple hard
drive partitions. This means that each partition on the hard drive must be created with 4K-aware
partitioning software to make sure proper alignment and performance is ensured.
5.3 Managing 4K sectors in the Linux environment
The key strategies in managing the transition to 4K sectors in a Windows environment also apply to Linux.
Table 3 Linux support
Drive formats
Reported logical
sector size
Reported physical
sector size
Supported versions
512-byte Native, 512n
512 bytes
512 bytes
All Linux versions
3. Advanced Format, 512e,
AF, 512-byte Emulation
512 bytes
4096 bytes
RHEL 6.1*
SLES 11 SP2**
Ubuntu 13.10
Ubuntu 12.04.4
4. Advanced Format, AF, 4K
Native, 4Kn
4096 bytes
4096 bytes
RHEL 6.1*
SLES 11 SP2**
Ubuntu 13.10
Ubuntu 12.04.4
*Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 supports 4K-sector devices as data disks. 4K-sector boot disks are supported in UEFI
mode only.
**SUSE Linux Enterprise fully supports 4K sector drives in all conditions and architectures with one exception. The
4KB/sector hard disk drives are not supported as a boot drive on x86_64 systems booting with a legacy BIOS.
Changes have been made to both the Linux kernel and utilities to support Advanced Format drives. These
changes ensure that all partitions on Advanced Format drives are properly aligned on 4K sector
boundaries. Kernel support for Advanced Format drives is available in kernel versions 2.6.31 and above.
Support for portioning and formatting Advanced Format drives is available in the following Linux utilities:
 Fdisk: GNU Fdisk is a command line utility that partitions hard drives. Versions 1.2.3 and above
support Advanced Format drives.
 Parted: GNU Parted is a graphical utility for partitioning hard drives. Versions 2.1 and above support
Advanced Format drives.